Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Writer Bub Bridger dies at 85

Updated at 6:39 pm on 8 December 2009

New Zealand poet and short story writer Bub Bridger has died, aged 85.

Bridger grew up in Hawke's Bay during the depression years and attended Napier Girls' High School, leaving after the third form for a job at the then Social Security Department in Wellington.

She married and had four children, but the relationship broke down and she raised them on her own.

Bridger started writing at the age of 50 after attending a writers' workshop at Victoria University run by historian Michael King.

She was a noted live performer and her poems and stories have appeared in numerous anthologies. She also wrote for radio and television, acted on the stage and was a member of the women's comedy group Hen's Teeth.

Bridger lived in Wellington for many years before moving to Westport, where her funeral will be held on a beach near her home on Saturday.

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